MELBOURNE, Australia  Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt
joined the exodus of seeded players at the Australian Open with a shocking first-round
loss Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Aussie became the first top seed to lose
in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since 1990 when he lost in four
sets to Spaniard Alberto Martin.

Hewitt, the first homegrown top seed at the Australian
Open since 1976, crumbled to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) defeat and joined No.
2 Gustavo Kuerten and No. 3 Andre Agassi as early casualties.

The Open is the first Grand Slam event to enter the second
round without any of the top three men's seeds.

Agassi, the two-time defending champion, withdrew before
a ball was hit, citing a wrist injury he picked up in an exhibition match Saturday
against Pete Sampras. Kuerten lost in five sets Monday.

Stefan Edberg was No. 1 seed at the 1990 U.S. Open when
he lost his opener to Russia's Alexander Volkov.

No top seed had been eliminated in the first round of an
Australian Open in the Open era.

Jennifer Capriati began the defense of her Australian Open
title with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Croatia's Silvija Talaja, No. 4 Kim Clijsters
swept Christina Wheeler 6-2, 6-1 and No. 6 Justine Henin beat Anna Kournikova
6-2, 7-5 to ensure the top women advanced.

Venus Williams, the second seed, and Martina Hingis, seeded
third, advanced Monday, although No. 5 Serena Williams withdrew due to an ankle
injury before her opener.

Capriati, who won her maiden Grand Slam title last year
in Melbourne and then added the French Open crown, assumed top ranking Monday
after Lindsay Davenport had withdrawn from the year's first major to have knee
surgery.

"I like the feeling and I want to try to keep it for a
while, and set a new goal for myself and a new challenge and take myself to
a new level in my career," Capriati said.

Against Talaja, she converted two breaks in the first set
and then, after breaking to lead 2-1 in the second, won all remaining games.

Martin's upset win followed Capriati's match on center
court.

Hewitt, the U.S. Open champion, was sidelined with chicken
pox since the Hopman Cup earlier this month and had one low-key exhibition match.

"If I was covered in spots and still couldn't go near anyone,
then I wouldn't have played, but I was pretty much going to walk out on court
no matter how bad I was feeling," Hewitt said.

"I was struggling out there  I knew I was in trouble
right from the start," he added. But, "it's a Grand Slam, one of the biggest
tournaments of the year  I was going to give it a shot."

He looked like he might turn the match around when he broke
for 2-1 and then 3-2 in the fourth set. But Martin broke back twice and evened
it at 4-4.

The Australian led 3-0 in the tiebreaker, but fell behind
5-4 when Martin sent him back with a lob and then put away an overhead.

Hewitt, who twice during the fourth set called the trainer
to attend to blisters on his feet and to massage his hamstrings, waited nervously
in the tiebreaker when Martin, leading 5-4, got courtside treatment for cramping
upper legs.

Serving for survival, Hewitt hit a backhand out to give
41st-ranked Martin two match points and then dumped a forehand into the net.

Hewitt, who won the Masters Cup last November to finish
at No. 1, said Martin's timeout was unfair, coming at a crucial time.

Martin, who had just one win in four previous trips to
the Australian Open, rejected the assertion, saying he didn't break any rules.

"I beat good players, but never beat the No. 1 in his home,"
Martin said. "I knew that I can beat anyone. The next step is to be every day
at a good level."

Sampras opened with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jarkko Nieminen
of Finland.

The 30-year-old American let four match points slip on
Nieminen's serve at 3-5 but set up another in the next game with his 13th ace
and finished with a service winner.

"That's what I was needing," he said. "My game was there.
I served well, I was putting pressure on his serve."

Sampras said the absence of Agassi and Kuerten helps his
bid for a 14th Grand Slam title and his first since Wimbledon 2000.

"I'm one of the favorites," he said. "When I get my game
going, I'm tough to beat."

And he said that before Hewitt's loss. He'd rated the young
Aussie a tough favorite and then said: "I'm in that league."

The loss of the top three men leaves No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov
the top player in the draw and also gives No. 8 Sampras, No. 9 Marat Safin and
No. 13 Andy Roddick a better shot at the title.

Safin had a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Anthony Dupuis of France,
while Roddick unleashed a string of booming serves and powerful forehands on
Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina to win the last first-round match 6-3, 5-7, 6-3,
6-3.

Tommy Haas, the seventh seed, ousted Russian Andrei Stoliarov
6-1, 6-3, 6-1 and No. 19 Jan-Michael Gambill lost for the fifth consecutive
year in the Australian Open's first round.

Women's No. 7 Amelie Mauresmo beat a qualifier, while Lina
Krasnoroutskaya, who gained a place in the seedings after Serena Williams pulled
out with a turned ankle, sprained her own left ankle and withdrew when trailing
3-6, 6-3, 2-0 to Conchita Martinez.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.